Julie Chen Moonves weighs in on ‘remarkable’ ‘Big Brother’ champion (exclusive)

Each week, Big Brother host Julie Chen Moonves has been weighing in on the latest events inside the house exclusively with Entertainment Weekly. Here, she weighs in on finale night and the crowning of a new Big Brother champion.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Okay, Julie. We have a new Big Brother champion in Ashley Hollis. Give us your take on her remarkable turnaround from day 1 target to eventual season winner.

JULIE CHEN MOONVES: Ashley may be the best winner who really got a chance to not sweat it out week after week. She won when it was crucial. To win Veto when she was the target week one and then sail her way to the final three and win the last HOH is truly remarkable. But her arguments as to why she deserved to win over Vince and how she handled the jury questions was truly a masterpiece. Plus, she didn’t have any upset jurors. Quite the opposite, she had people rooting for her to take home the grand prize. Impressive!

Ashley seemed to land a knockout blow when she said that “To me, a Big Brother winner is someone who turns their enemies into allies, not their allies into enemies, which the counterpart next to me did.” What did you make of how Ashley and Vince handled the jury questions and final speeches?

You really got to see the lawyer come out in Ashley with that quote. I almost wanted to hand her the check right there. Vince didn’t do a bad job answering questions. He did a nice job reminding people what competitions he won and the skills he had to win them: physical, mental/memory and a balance competition. But the jury liked Ashley more and she hit a home run with her arguments. 

Morgan played such a strong strategic, social, and competitive game. How do you think she does against Ashley if Ashley had decided to bring her to the end instead of Vince?

I think Morgan would have had:
Vince
Ava 
Keanu
Kelley
Rachel 

So Ashley made the right decision on taking Vince and evicting Morgan. 

Finally, if you could bring one player from this season back to play again, whom would it be and why?

Keanu. He is a comp beast and beloved by the fans. Chances are he’d be playing with people who watched this season and LOVED him. I’d like to see how far he can take it with loyal friends on his side.  

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